The invention disclosed herein relates generally to the field of messaging. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for sending and retrieving messages remotely. Specifically, this invention implements wireless technology and document transformation to communicate a message to a mobile recipient for remote access.
In today""s rapidly paced society, professional and personal demands on messaging technologies, such as voice mail, e-mail, facsimile and pagers, have greatly increased. The development of this technology, in turn, has increased demands on mobile people who rely on these messaging devices for a variety of business and social communications. Specifically, these expectations have forced the mobile professional to demand the ability to receive messages regardless of time, location, or availability of messaging devices. According to a recent study by Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn., a typical business professional receives 169 messages a day. Many of these messages are delivered using some form of electronic and mobile communication such as cellular telephones, facsimiles, analog/digital telephone, pagers, e-mail transmission, and personal digital assistants. These messages help determine the mobile professional""s daily plans, keep him/her in contact with his/her community and enable him/her to accomplish his/her professional and personal goals.
Users, recognizing the capabilities of these devices, have relied on these devices such that they have become nearly indispensable tools for many businesses and individual consumers. Specifically recognized as invaluable are the inherent capabilities of a facsimile as an effective means of quickly and efficiently transmitting many types of documents from one known and specified location to another known and specified location. Facsimile machines are indispensable global tools, because they are used throughout the world and are accessible by and compatible with any other facsimile in the world. In addition, the use of facsimile machines has significantly improved the speed of transmittal of documents as compared to the sending of such a document through the postal services and/or various other express courier services, which, in general, require overnight delivery. Furthermore, facsimile machines have eased the travel burden on mobile professionals by eliminating the total number of printed documents they must carry to offsite meetings. With the aid of facsimile machines, any forgotten necessary documents may be retrieved by a simple facsimile.
Also in recent years, photocopiers have become more than just a reproduction machine. Photocopiers, which exist in virtually every office environment, have integrated the capabilities of printing and the flexibility of facsimile to become a valuable office tool. These machines have opened a new channel for communication which will enable mobile professionals to operate more efficiently and effectively.
In typical document messaging systems, a person desiring to send a print form of a message, such as a facsimile, must know the physical location of the intended recipient in order to insure that the intended recipient will be the actual recipient of the transmitted message. These systems require the message sender to first contact the intended recipient to determine a location, a time and a facsimile number where a message may be received. If the message is a confidential communication, the sender also must know that the recipient will be present at the precise time the sender transmits the facsimile. If the recipient is not physically present at the facsimile machine, the intended recipient may never receive the message, and/or any confidentiality may be broken.
In another messaging scenario where an individual desires to access and print his/her e-mail messages remotely using his/her laptop computer, the recipient first must locate a telephone line to enable access to the recipient""s e-mail. The recipient must then locate and access either a dedicated printer or a networked printer in order to print the e-mail. Often, the access to a company""s network is protected, and visitors are not authorized to use the network without a cumbersome approval process. Moreover, if the e-mail has accompanying attachments, the intended recipient must also insure that the attachments are in a software program format which is loaded on the accessed network or that the program is present on the intended recipient""s computer. Meeting these requirements is both time consuming and, often, unattainable.
In another messaging scenario, the sender of the message may choose to send the recipient an e-mail message, a voice message, a facsimile or even a paper message, while the recipient prefers to receive the message in a print format. The present systems do not allow the flexibility to easily enable this access to messages and documents. In most systems, the lack of integration between an input device and a destination device means that a message recipient must separately utilize a variety of messaging and delivery systems in order to access the desired information. In a voice messaging scenario, this often means that the recipient must call into a phone system to check whether any voice messages exist, manually set call forwarding to a network for translation into a readable form, and then remotely log onto a network to receive the message.
In another scenario, a message recipient may choose to access his/her messages through his/her personal digital assistant; however, the personal digital assistant may not have enough memory to reproduce the entire e-mail and/or the attachments. This scenario requires the recipient to contact either his/her assistant to arrange a time and location to have the facsimile sent, or it requires the recipient to contact the message originator himself or herself to have the documents directly transferred. If the message is a voice mail sent to a recipient and the recipient desires a print version, the recipient either must have his/her assistant transcribe the voice message, or the recipient must employ voice to text conversion Again, in order for the recipient to actually receive a physical print copy of the voice text, the recipient must arrange for a facsimile transmission. The above example presents some of the problems associated with remote retrieval of document. It is to be appreciated that many such examples exist.
One example of a solution to this problem has been disclosed by EFAX.COM(trademark), a Delaware corporation having headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. EFAX.COM(trademark) produces a product which enables a mobile professional to receive facsimiles and voice mail messages using a wireless device. However, the EFAX.COM(trademark) product requires that the recipient know the facsimile number of the machine to be used for printing and further requires the sender to manually enter that number into the sender""s wireless device. Furthermore, the EFAX.COM(trademark) does not translate voice to facsimile; therefore, voice transmission sent is to an e-mail as an attached audio file using a proprietary format.
Therefore, there now exists a requirement to enable the mobile professional the flexibility and ease of access to his/her messages at any time and location which have originated from any messaging format.
The present invention is directed to a method and system for remote receipt of a message, such as a telephone, e-mail, facsimile or paper message. This invention allows mobile people such as telecommuters, sales people, professional people having multiple offices; business travelers; professionals who do not have a dedicated assistant; and anyone having a message flow, the ability to receive their messages at a variety of locations in a variety of formats with ease and flexibility. In today""s environment, even when professionals strive for a paperless office, there remains a need for paper documents. Paper is a collaborative media and, as such, fosters innovation, design and teamwork. Paper is also a legal media often required when finalizing contracts. Finally, paper is a more permanent media often used for storing knowledge.
Therefore, it is often desirous for mobile professionals to have at their fingertips a plethora of information which may be received in a variety of tangible media without regard to the recipient""s location or the format in which the document was created. Paper also finds a significant use as a translation. In other words, a message may be sent by paper yet received in an electronic form, or a message may be communicated in an electronic form and received in a printed form. Furthermore, a message may be sent in a paper form, transmitted to its destination in electronic form, and then printed into a paper format. The present invention provides these mobile professionals the ability to receive their documents and messages, unrestricted and unlimited, by time, location, and document format.
This invention incorporates aspects of xe2x80x9cunified mailxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cunified messagingxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cuniversal messagingxe2x80x9d to result in a remote messaging solution. xe2x80x9cUnified messagingxe2x80x9d transmission is the ability to create and respond to the originator of multimedia messages with accuracy from a telephone, a personal computer or other hand-held device. xe2x80x9cUnified mailxe2x80x9d is the ability to store messages of all media type: voice, facsimile, e-mail, video, paging, in a single mailbox with accessibility by a personal computer, a telephone, or other hand-held device. xe2x80x9cUniversal messagingxe2x80x9d is the ability to create any type of message and to send the message without regard to the recipient""s mailbox requirements. This invention also incorporates spontaneous communication technology such as Bluetooth to deliver the documents to a print device.
The present invention provides a server or data center for receiving messages from a sender. The message or messages may be voice, facsimile, e-mail, video messages or other electronic form of data. The data center then sends the message to an intended message recipient""s mobile device, such as a personal digital assistant, cellular phone or laptop. The mobile device is then prompted to indicate to the recipient that a message has been sent, and that the message is at the mobile device to be printed. The message recipient determines where, when and if he/she desires to retrieve the message. The recipient may choose to receive one or more messages and selected attachments, regardless of the format, in a single transmission by selecting those messages on his/her mobile device. This requires the system to place only one telephone call to send/receive a myriad of messages. The mobile device includes a wireless communications technology such as Bluetooth which is a universal radio interface in the 2.45 GHz frequency band that enables ad-hoc, wireless connectivity and allows portable electronic devices to connect and communicate wirelessly via short range. Therefore, the users may xe2x80x9ctransparentlyxe2x80x9d log in to the system via a hand-held device without specifically typing in a user name and a password. The message recipient merely brings the mobile device within wireless range to a destination device which is also Bluetooth compatible.
If the mobile device does not have enough memory to receive the entire document, the data may be summarized, and the destination device may retrieve sections of the document. The mobile device then determines if any translation or transcoding of the original message is required in order for the destination device to receive the message in a format which is compatible with that of the desired destination device. For example, the message sent may be an e-mail, voice communication or by paper (in facsimile or scanned form), and the desired receipt may also be in any of the same variety of formats. Once transcoding or translation is effected, the message is routed to the identified destination device, which then outputs the message. A confirmation of delivery may be sent to the original sending party either directly or via the data center, in order to provide assurance that certain messages have been received. Once a facsimile has been received by the recipient, the system may send a confirmation of delivery by a variety of devices such as a facsimile. In addition, if the recipient did not receive the facsimile within a designated period of time, then a message may be sent to the original sender indicating non-receipt.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the recipient may be required to reply to a notification of a message or to actual receipt of a message within a specified period of time. If the recipient does not reply to the notification within a specified period of time, then the notification is re-sent. This may be implemented, for example, when important messages are sent and it is necessary for the sender to know if the message was received.